Anyone else get like this? Needing SOME ENCOURAGEMENT!

[cnote]

27 Male. Anxiety sufferer. But learning that most of my anxiety starts from Health Anxiety... which is "hypochodria"? Heck I dunno, I hate labeling myself. lol.

Here's my problem. About 2 weeks ago or more, I developed a very tight throat associated with throat clearing sinus drainage. At this point I was not worried about my tight throat, except the fact that I didn't like it.

A few days later, my throat got sore... but not like a sore throat, it was just the lining on the left side of my mouth near my tonsils/upper palate. Also when I swallowed I felt something like a popcorn kernel or something near my left tonsil. (thought it was a tonsil stone, but couldnt see it) also my lymph node or something was sore under my left earlobe.

Anyways, my sore throat left, but I still kept swallowing to see if I could feel the "popcorn kernel" feeling in my throat. Which i still could at times, but my throat didnt hurt.

At this point my anxiety started to rise b/c I got the irrational thought of "could this be throat cancer?" Even though I knew the chances of me having throat cancer were slim to nothing... the thought crossed my anxious brain ONE TIME and that's all it took. The anxiety was on.

I went to the Dr. just to get peace of mind. My Dr. is great by the way, he knows everything about my anxiety etc.

I basically told him why I was there needing peace of mind from the "c" word. He looked around said I probably just had some sinus issues or a cold and had a sore throat, but as of now, he said my throat looked GREAT. He said "No signs of cancer!"

Of course my mind was relieved... then the following day I could still feel the popcorn kernel feeling.. and my ANXIETY MIND STARTED THINKING "What if the Dr. missed something?" So the anxiety came back... and on top of that my gag reflex became very sensitive... breathing in certain ways would make my top palate feel weird and make have the feeling of wanting to gag! It stunk!

Well, then the popcorn kernel feeling when I swallowed left! It totally went away... But I was still constantly catching myself swallowing, and swallowing to see if it was still there... my anxiety was so bad I just cried and cried it all out one day saying "Lord, please just take all this worry and fear away, and help me quit obsessing about my throat!" As tears poured I felt better and that weekend was great! I also took a zyrtec to see if that helped, and I think it did.

My weekend went great my appetite came back and anxiety left! (b/c I lose appetite during anxiety spells)

Well, that following monday, I was eating lunch at work, and I noticed my chest hurt when I swallowed my food.
I could feel the food going down my esophegus more than usual and slower, and once it hit my chest area, i had a discomfort in my chest area.

"GREAT!!! Just Great!" I thought... something else to worry about... luckily instead of going back to the Dr. b/c I just saw him the week before, my wife had a check up with him the next day, so I had her ask him what that was I was feeling that day. He said it was probably acid reflux, and for me to take ant-acids.

The next day this feeling went away.. amen! But anxiety spiked again! Plus I started having a wisdom tooth that Ive had in for a while coming up some more, and it was making my gums really sore, and my lymph node kind of sore. It stunk!! And anxiety was getting worse.

After a few days, my wisdom tooth started feeling much better. But my anxiety wasnt.

I kept thinking about my throat still... b/c NOW, my throat and my mouth feel SO DRY, and it's SO DRY when I breath in through my nose or something it seems like the back of my throat tenses up so much, and my uvual feels dry and when it touches my throat or something, I feel like gagging..

And it seems NO MATTER HOW MUCH I DRINK, IT WONT STAY VERY MOIST. And now when I swallow with a dry mouth and throat, my throat muscles are tensed up and feels like bones or air popping when I swallow. It just stinks!

I'm a big soda drinker,. and I havnt drank any soda in the past few days b/c my mouth is SO dry when I drink soda now the fizz just irritates my upper palate of my mouth near my uvula area. It just stinks! I LOVE SODA! But I guess cutting out soda isnt a bad thing. haha.

Well, what I've done to myself over the past 3 weeks has caused me to OBSESS ABOUT MY THROAT NOW, I CAN'T STOP SWALLOWING AND THINKING ABOUT EACH TIME I SWALLOW

EVERYTIME I SWALLOW I THINK "Is it really dry? did that hurt? what was that feeling? Why is my uvula so dry feeling? Why do I feel like gagging sometimes?"

I've become SO OBSESSED with THINKING about my throat, that my anxiety is SOARING too...
I just feel TRAPPED IN MY MIND! I CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT MY THROAT!

And what's funny, is that I'm thinking so much about it, that my throat probably feels like this most of the time, and
I just used to think nothing of it! Now I can't stop thinking about every feeling when I swallow.

My anxiety was SO bad last night, my legs were trembling, I felt bad bad butterflies in my stomach, I was pacing...
I felt SO TERRIBLE... I take ativan to help me through these phases of anxiety, and I always make it though all anxiety spells and depression spells... but I just feel SO STUCK in this one. I usually take 1 ativan during the day if my anxiety is bad, and it helps get me by.. but lastnight  my brother told me to take 2 before bed, and it helped GREATLY! You see, I'm also building a little tolerance to my ativan, b/c its the smallest dose. It's .5mg per pill. And they just don't chill me out like they used too.

Tonight I'm not feeling too bad, this morning was kind of bad, was very anxious, couldnt sit down... kept thinking about my throat so much... and my throat doesnt even hurt! It's just dry dry mouth and dry throat kinda. It's not a dry and itchy and scratchy throat like you'd get in the winter from it being dry.

So my question is to you guys. I know anxiety is the WORST of all of this. And I have to know nothing is wrong with my throat. The Dr. just looked at my throat last week!

So my question is, is this anxiety at it's best?
Is it possible for me to quit thinking about my throat, and every sensation?
I just feel stuck in my mind! I wanna get out of this funk!

What stinks too is my Dr. is out of the country for 2 months! But he said he's got other colleagues there for me if I need em. I just hate going to the Dr. all the time over nothing!

I've been on an SSRI before but I want to just knock this stuff out without SSRI's. I don't mind taking a little chill pill here and there to get me through minor funks, but this funk is pretty bad!

Do you think I'll get over this?

What are your suggestions? My anxiety is still pretty bad, but not too bad tonight, my appetite is gone, I get butterflies in my stomach, and keep thinking about my throat still. It's mostly my top upper palate and near my uvula that feels the most dry! and my throat get's tight sometimes.

Thanks guys so much! Just help me calm down over this stupid-ness.. I want my life back like I had it 3 weeks ago!

I can't believe all of this started with just a minor sore throat...

I'm gonna go take some ativan and a shower and just try and relax. I notice my mouth and stuff isnt as dry when I wake up in the morning, but once I start thinking about it, it seems like it happens.

Is this all anxiety symptoms only?

[cnote]

Thanks for your responce. I really think I'm gonna pass on the beta blockers, b/c my heart rate does go up some, when feeling really anxious, but my heart rate doesnt scare me, i know its just anxiety.

And I have created the sensation of my throat, my throat always probably feels like this, I just made it worse by thinking WAY too much about the way SWALLOWING feels. The Dr. said I do have lots of sinus drainage, therefor I'm swallowing a lot more than usual, which is straining the muscles more, but since I was having anxiety about my throat weeks ago, I thought WAY too much about my throat etc. that anxiety fed of some FEAR, and so I just focused and focused on swallowing, and what does it feel like when I swallow etc. etc. I just can't stop thinking about my throat. Today is much better, not thinking about my throat... but I'm still having lots of mind chatter (like telling myself over and over in my head, it's going to be okay, you are fine, quit doing this to yourself), and having a hard time concentrating on work, conversations etc. But I am making it! I know the Lexapro takes about 2-4 weeks to really start getting the full effect, so I'm just being hopeful and waiting it out, and in the mean time keeping my head above the water. =)

I will get out of this funk!

[amish1979]

C,

It's just that same old cycle of strange body sensations starting up your anxiety, which causes you to focus more on the strange body sensations, which ramps up your anxiety even more, which etc. etc.

I get it all the time, even when I tell myself I know exactly what's going on it still causes me a bit of anxiety.

Depending on what your symptoms are the beta blockers could help.  They help me because when my anxiety starts it really ramps up my heart rate which gives me those "Oh I'm having a heart attack" fears.  The beta blocker keeps my heart rate from getting out of control.  They are used sometimes to treat anxiety (really stage fright) in that they keep your hear rate on the level, but that's about it. If you aren't experiencing that symptom I don't know how much good it would do you.

[cnote]

Just got back from the Dr. Not my primary bc he's out of the country. But the dr I saw knows me and my family. He's my moms dr. He gave me lexapro which I've tried in the past. Hopefully it will help me get out of this mental and physical funk. He gave me reassurance there was nothing physically wrong with my throat. No cancer or nothing just lots of sinus drainage. He said the lexapro should help and that therapy should help too. He also wanted me to try a beta blocker but I told him I didn't want it but he wrote me a script for it anyways. Not sure if I'm gonna pick that script up. I think I'll just try the lexapro. He told me I didn't have to take the beta blocker if I didn't want to. Anyways pray I'm my old self here soon. :)

[MMahon]

Yes, antidepressants are a better long term treatment for anxiety then benzo's.   They effect chemicals in the brain that are presumed to be out of balance. This imbalance effects our entire nervous system including our thought process. There are different types of antidepressants that effect the different neurotransmitters needed by our system.  It's a trial and error process sometimes figuring which is the right one to take,  that's why a psychiatrist is the best one to see for this. So when your neurochemicals are better balanced so too should be your thoughts.  Therapy helps with the negative behaviors learned while our thought processes were out of wack.  Hope this helps.

[cnote]

I've been suffering from anxiety for about 2.5 years. I'm only 27 years old. So I'm hoping, I can get this all out of me, and hopefully it get's easier as I get older? =)

It all started when I lost my grandmother who I was very close too, and it was the only family member I have every lost so far in my life! Lucky huh? Not too many people can say that at age 27. And I have a HUGE family. We are all very close and all live in the same town pretty much.

My grandmother died of lung cancer. And I watched her slowly die, ever since I started having anxiety, and then it turned into health anxiety and cancer phobia.

I'm also a smoker.

I also have a mood tracker on here, and there is always a pattern, it's always health related whether the symptom I get is caused by anxiety or something else, it freaks me out to where I have to go to the Dr. and get peace of mind that it's not cancer... EVERY TIME!

So maybe I need to really see a psychologist again, and maybe he can help me get over this health anxiety. And maybe a little anti-depessant won't hurt either.

I notice when I get out of these little anxiety spells/funks I'm back at what I do best, doing my creative stuff, making short films, art, playing with my kids, cleaning the garage, finding fun house projects to do...

It's just amazing how this anxiety/depression can consume us SO much and make us not feel interest in ANY of these things at this time. It stinks!

The good news, is that I really am getting better at DEALING with it... even though I have "ROUGH" times... I still think I'm getting better at dealing with the anxiety. The thoughts and fears though are something I've gotta get over.

Thanks again for responding.

So, again, you are saying that anti-depressants can help the thought process become clear again?

[MMahon]

Anxiety has always been the major issue with me.  I do take xanax but it's the antidepressant that really helped over the long haul. Anxiety frequently changes your 'pattern of thought' so when it's controlled then your thoughts can return to normal.  Your thought patterns can certainly lead you further downhill but once your nervous system is 'normalized' then your thought patterns normalize as well.   Talk to your psychiatrist and explain your symptoms in detail.  CBT can be benficial as well.  For many anxiety is a long term ailment and needs long term treatment.  We can't wish it away but must stay on top of it all the time.
Take care.

[cnote]

Thanks for responding. It's so funny, how we can obsess about sensations so much, that it ruins our day and causes us anxiety.

If I don't snap out of this by the middle or the end of this week, I will probably make an appt. to either see a Dr. again for peace of mind and try that,  or my old psychiatrist who I saw a few times.

The thing with SSRI's is when I go on them, I'll either feel better and get through it, or they won't do anything, and I'll just fight it and win the battle myself. But either way, whatever helps me get through the funk... I think therapy is probably a good choice for me b/c I hate taking SSRIS.

And really, this is a mental thinking issue and an irrational thinking issue over health anxiety, which I think talking to a psychiatrist will help most.

Thanks for responding. Today isn't a bad day today. =) I'm still thinking about it sometimes, but overall my nerves are more calm than they have been. =)

Can an anti-depressant really help change your pattern of thought? and obsessions?

[MMahon]

I think you need to try anti-depressants again.   If SSRI's didn't work for you then you should try something else.  An anti-depressant is the best long term medication treatment for anxiety.  If you don't already see a psychiatrist for your anxiety then you should do so.
They know the disorder the best and are best able to prescribe the proper medications and treatment therapies. You can do much better with some type of antidepressant.  A pill a day and getting thru life normally is well worth not going thru what you are, but only you can make this decision.
See the link below about 'globus pharyngis' - globus sensation.  Probably what's happening with your throat problems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globus_Pharyngis

[cnote]

I'm also not sleeping very good, without ativan... And even with ativan, I fall asleep, but I wake up very early, and wide awake and just feel like I should be able to sleep more. This is anxiety I know, but I hate it.

[cnote]

my anxiety was also so bad last night, I started having crying spells... just cried out to my wife.. telling her this anxiety is just depressing me. What stinks too is that it's hard to cry b/c my throat is already tense as it is, so sometimes I feel like gagging when I cry. lol.